They
responded heartily to the varied salutations of the company, and, as
each bowed himself over the woman he loved best, they said: "God has
been very good to us, and has sent us more than a marshal's baton
through these two knapsacks."
* * * * *
Pleasant were the two summer months at Bridesdale and Tillycot, with
visits to the Manse and Cubbyholes, to Bangslea and the Beaver River.
Two little Pilgrim girls and a Toner boy appeared before the visitors
went home; and, soon after their arrival at their homes, they learned
that Basil primus was marching Basil secondus in his arms, clad in a
nocturnal surplice. Mr. Bigglethorpe had had his baby christened Felix
Marjoram, regarding the latter botanical word as a masculine equivalent
of Marjorie. When, next year, the welcome visitors came to Flanders from
Toronto and the far south, they brought each a maid and a warm little
bundle. The bundle of Mrs. Coristine was called James Farquhar, and that
of Mrs. Wilkinson was Marjorie Carruthers. When they cried, Mr.
Coristine, M.P., and Dr. Wilkinson, if they were about, carried them
round, singing outlandish songs; when they were good, the parents laid
two knapsacks over a rag on the lawn, put pillows on top, and the babies
against the pillows, betting quarters as to which would kick the
highest.
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